Call of Battle
by FallenFromGrace1882
Summary: A violent and terrifying threat has moved into the forest. As the attacks and night raids become more frequent, the Clans decision to ignore the invaders begins to look like a bad one. Follow Stormpaw as he fights to stay alive with his Clan and make the noble attempt to drive out the fearsome enemy. T for violence.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** **Oh look, another story I can't afford to start! Enjoy it anyway!**

Prologue

Wispy clouds drifted past the setting sun, changing briefly into bright balls of crimson. The moon rose at the same time; it was almost full, but was still days away from its peak. A dense canopy of leaves differentiated from the nearby town, belonging to a thick forest.

A sleek figure slipped through a crooked board in a fence. The figure- which belonged to a cat, shook out his fur on the other side. His whiskers twitched in impatience when he looked back through the fence.

"Are you alright back there? Have you gotten stuck," the tom teased, his amber eyes glowing with laughter. He pulled his head back just in time to avoid being raked with a set of claws.

"I am fine," came the soft, yet dangerous reply. "But you would do well to remember who you speak to, Skull." The owner of the voice stepped through the fence. He was a dark gray tom, larger than the first with sharp amber eyes. He flattened his ears in disgust as he watched his companion dart around in excitement.

"We are on an important mission. Actually, you are on an important mission." Skull, a white tom, stopped dead in his tracks and meekly trudged back to the other's side.

"I apologize."

"Lead on, Skull."

Skull lead the way passed rows of Twoleg nests. He could feel the presence of other cats, occasionally seeing a pair of eyes peeking from behind a fence. At one nest a young tabby watched the pair from atop his fence. Skull gave a polite nod, making the tabby swell with pride. The other cat stared up at him with a cold gaze, making the young cat scramble from his post.

"Wonder what's eating him," Skull mewed mockingly, avoiding the glare that came from the other.

"Skull, are we almost there? This place is not what you told me about."

"Almost...we may have to cross through a yard or two," Skull admitted. He paused in front of a fence. "Here we are."

He slipped through a large hole, motioning for the other to follow. On the other side, two cats stood waiting.

"Skull...and Shadow! What a surprise," a she-cat purred. She tilted her head to the left. "I believe that's the direction you want."

"Thank you, Melody," Skull answered for the pair of them. He lead Shadow to another hole on the opposite side of the yard. He allowed Shadow to go through first, scrambling through after him.

On the other side, it was quite different. The scent of Twoleg was greatly diminished by the smells of the forest. Grass and undergrowth muffled their pawsteps as they ventured in. Tall oak trees towered over them, reaching up toward the darkening sky. Skull inspected a small burrow, taking in its scent.

"Rabbit. It's abandoned, but still fairly recent," he turned to speak to Shadow, but saw that the tom was gone.

"What was that?" Skull turned to see Shadow perched on a low branch of an oak tree, a squirrel clamped in his jaws.

"Nothing…"

Shadow's ears perked, his tail lashing. "Skull. You never told me that there were other cats here already. Why did you bring me here?"

"Oh, them. They are nothing. They're as weak as newborn kittens. They won't try to fight back. They aren't an obstacle," Skull said dismissively, "You should leave the bones. Let them know we're coming."

"I think you'd better not tell me what to do," Shadow growled.

"Yes, I apologize," came the hasty response.

Shadow looked around indifferently. "This will be a great place to raise my Clan. Of course, I'll keep the town. One can never have too much space."

**A/N:**** Yup...things I can't afford. I have an ongoing payment plan, don't worry. R&R, s'il vous plait.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**** Let's go, I've got chapter one! Granted, I only have it because I've worked on it for a week. Enjoy.**

Chapter One

"Stormpaw. Stormpaw….hello. STORMPAW." The sharp snarl from his mentor made the tabby jump to attention.

"Yes Whiteflash?" He answered meekly. He shuffled his paws, knowing good and well he was in for a scolding and a lecture. His mentor looked down at him with deep yellow eyes, a hint of mischief being held back.

"Stormpaw, I would like for you to go on the dawn patrol." He leaned in closer. "I hear Lightfoot's sending Flintpaw. Don't let him beat you."

Even though Stormpaw knew it wasn't a competition, he couldn't help but to feel a rush of excitement roll over him. He would do anything it took to beat his brother. Well, anything within the warrior code.

"Okay Whiteflash," he meowed, straining to keep back a squeal of joy. He bounded over to where his brother and two other cats sat by the camp entrance.

"Hello, Goldenheart, Shrewclaw," he mewed, nodding to a golden she-cat and brown tom respectively. "Oh, it's you. Flintpaw." He stuck his tongue out at his littermate, crossing his eyes.

"Ew. It's Stormpaw. I think they should have named you Lazypaw. Or Stupidpaw," Flintpaw teased.

"Better than Smellypaw!"

"Enough you two! We're on patrol. This is not playtime," Shrewclaw growled. Stormpaw looked down at his paws in embarrassment, while Flintpaw mumbled an apology. Goldenheart placed her tail on Shrewclaw's shoulder.

"Relax. They're just trying to have some fun. You can't say you weren't like that as an apprentice, now can you?"

"Yes, but I'm not an apprentice now. They need to learn how serious being a warrior is," Shrewclaw protested.

"And until they do, let them have their fun."

Shrewclaw let out a huff and started out of the camp. Goldenheart looked back at the two apprentices.

"Don't mind him. He's a bit grumpy today.

Stormpaw sniffed tentatively at a clump of ferns. Nothing out of the ordinary. They smelled like...well, they smelled like ferns.

"Hey, Stormpaw! Look at me!" Stormpaw turned to see his brother climbing one of the oak trees nearby.

"I swear to StarClan...if you fall and break yourself, I'm going to laugh," Stormpaw warned. What was it to him if he brother fell because he was stupid? Glancing around to make sure no one was looking, he dug his claws into the bark of the tree. Before he had gone as much as a mouse length, his brother streaked down back to the ground.

"Bet you can't catch me!"

"Oh come on. Grow up already!" Stormpaw sighed, although he was already chasing after his brother. The forest turned into a blur of green and brown as he pelted towards his brother. From a distance, he saw his brother stop suddenly, forcing Stormpaw to slide to a halt.

Goldenheart and Shrewclaw were standing in the clearing, appearing to be baffled by something.

"What's going on," Stormpaw questioned.

"Bones," Goldenheart answered shortly. Stormpaw looked down at her paws and saw a pile of bones- rabbit and squirrel- left scattered around.

"And the place stinks or rogues," Shrewclaw added. Stormpaw wrinkled his nose. He was right. This place stank of crowfood and smoke.

"Flintpaw, go back to camp and get Falconstar," Goldenheart ordered. Flintpaw nodded before taking off in the direction of camp.

"Stormpaw, be ready to fight. We don't know if the rogues are still here," Shrewclaw hissed, his gaze sweeping across the clearing. They weren't too far from Twoleg place, Stormpaw noted. So it may have been loners, or even kittypets. But they don't smell this badly…

Goldenheart paced around the clearing, occasionally sniffing at the bones. Her fur stood on end, every little sound making her stiffen. At last, Flintpaw came bursting through a holly bush, with Falconstar at his heels. The massive tabby tom dipped his head in greeting towards his two warriors. He padded over to the scattered bones, sniffing each one individually.

"Two cats...they weren't here too long ago. Perhaps during the night," Falconstar murmured. He cast a dark glance towards Twoleg place. "Shrewclaw and Goldenheart, please carry on with the patrol. Report anything suspicious immediately," he meowed, turning to leave.

He hesitated. "Goldenheart….Shrewclaw...I fear the cats of Twoleg place are getting too confident. If you see any of them, don't be afraid to retreat." With that, he slipped out of the clearing.

Stormpaw wondered what he meant. Real warriors never retreated. Not the best ones anyway.

"He's not going back to camp."

"What?"

"Falconstar's not going back to camp," Flintpaw repeated. "He's headed off towards LakeClan." Stormpaw couldn't be sure how flintpaw knew this, but he shrugged off the suspicion. They had rogues to find!

Stormpaw trudged back into camp. They had found nothing. Other than the bones, there had been no trace of the rogues anywhere. His paws hurt and he still had the urge to fight some invaders.

A white tom padded up to Stormpaw, his striped fur quivering in concern. Stormpaw couldn't help but to think Hailpaw worried too much. He was his brother, but he was far too clumsy at times.

"Stormpaw, Flintpaw! Have you seen Falconstar? No one knows where he went."

"He went to LakeClan," Flintpaw mewed, "I guess to go warn Snowstar about rogues."

"Rogues? In the forest?" Hailpaw's eyes grew wide and he instinctively unsheathed his claws. "Have you found them yet?"

"No. We found bones that were covered in their scent though. They stink," Stormpaw growled, wrinkling his nose at the memory.

"Do you think they might come back," Hailpaw asked, all traces of his nervousness dissolved. He lashed his tail at the very thought of rogues.

"Probably. A rogue stealing prey rarely happens just once," a voice answered from behind. Stormpaw whipped around in surprise. It was their father, Thornclaw.

"Rogues are known for coming to the same places more than once to try and intimidate any cats currently there. They won't be too easy to get rid of once they think they're in control."

"But father, will they attack us?" Flintpaw asked.

"They may try to, but I think two rogues may find it difficult to attack a Clan of prepared warriors and apprentices," Thornclaw meowed. He sounded confident, but his dragging tail told the siblings otherwise.

Flintpaw shot a look at Stormpaw. He wanted to stop talking about rogues. Thornclaw caught the look.

"It's alright. You don't have to talk about them if you don't want to," he meowed as he walked away.

"I hope Falconstar gets back without running into the rogues," Hailpaw sighed, watching as their father left camp.

"Don't worry about him. He's the greatest leader RainClan has ever seen! Nothing can take him down," Flintpaw argued.

**A/N:**** Yes! No? Okay, no then...*whispers* Yes. R&R.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:**** Here you go. Enjoy!**

**Chapter Two**

The sun blazed overhead, turning the greenleaf heat sweltering. Stormpaw slowly picked his way out of the apprentices' den, silently praying to StarClan for rain.

"Stormpaw...you act like it's been forever since it rained. It rained two dawns ago," Flintpaw teased. He was right, but it had felt like forever!

Three dawns had passed since the bones had been found. No other evidence of the rogues had been found. Stormpaw wondered if Falconstar would share this at the Gathering. He would have to so the other Clans would be on alert. But what if the other Clans already know?

"Flintpaw...who do you think's going to the Gathering?"

"I dunno. Probably Kestrelflight. He did chase off that fox. Or maybe Cinderspots…"

"Flintpaw, Stormpaw! Why are you just standing there like hedgehogs in a mudslide," Lightfoot snapped. "Go out and hunt." His tail lashed nervously as he took off on patrol.

Flintpaw stared after his mentor in disbelief. "I don't want to go hunting. That's all I've been allowed to do. Stupid extra patrols."

"Maybe Whiteflash will let us do some battle training," Stormpaw suggested. It couldn't hurt to ask anyway. Besides, the chances of Whiteflash saying no was slim to none. He liked taking the apprentices out for practice.

"Yeah! Let's go get Poppypaw and Redpaw and see if they want to come!" Flintpaw mewed.

X

Stormpaw filed into the training hollow behind Hailpaw. In the end, all of the apprentices came to do some training with Whiteflash.

"I want you to pair up. Come on, quickly," Whiteflash ordered.

Hailpaw moved closer to Redpaw while Seedpaw and Poppypaw shared a glance. That left Stormpaw and Flintpaw.

"Well? I'm not going to teach you anything new. Time to teach yourselves. Claws sheathed," he added as an afterthought, glancing at Flintpaw and Stormpaw. "You can start." To illustrate his point that he wasn't doing any teaching, he sprawled out in the shade to watch.

Stormpaw felt a heavy weight land on his back. Sighing to himself, Stormpaw rolled over to loosen his brother's grip. He always uses the same tactics.

Landing on the sand, Flintpaw quickly rolled out of the way to avoid Stormpaw's attack. He sprang to his feet and dashed in to head butt Stormpaw. Stormpaw used his paw to swat away Flintpaw's head. He hissed in frustration as Flintpaw's paw caught the side of his face, bringing him down with him.

Not wanting to give in, Stormpaw flipped over, catching Flintpaw by the shoulders, pinning him down. He let out a purr as Flintpaw struggled to get up.

"I win. Again."

"Shut up, Stormpaw." Flintpaw growled, forcing his way up, "You don't always win."

"But I do for the most part," Stormpaw retorted.

"Enough with your bickering," Whiteflash growled from the shade. You wanted to train, so train." Stormpaw dipped his head in apology while Flintpaw turned away rudely.

"Don't be so rude."

"Whatever." Flintpaw sulked, stalking away from the clearing. Left without a partner, Stormpaw, shuffled his paws in the sand awkwardly, watching the other pairs wrestle. Why did Flintpaw have to be so difficult?

X

"I would like for Kestrelflight, Goldenheart, Cinderspots, Toadpelt, Whiteflash, Thornclaw, Poppypaw, Stormpaw, Redpaw and Flintpaw to accompany me to the Gathering," Falconstar called from the center of camp. His tail twitched apprehensively, deceiving the calm facade upon his face.

"No Hailpaw this time? That sucks," Flintpaw murmured, casting a sideways glance to their littermate. Hailpaw on the other hand, seemed quite content in staying at camp for the night.

"You tell us what happens at the Gathering, right?" Hailpaw asked hopefully, looking from brother to brother.

"Of course." They answered in unison.

"We won't leave out a single detail."

"It'll be like you were at the Gathering with us!"

"Thank guys!" Hailpaw bounded off to the apprentices' den.

Stormpaw stared after his brother. "I feel bad that he's not going with us. We always go together."

"Yeah, but he can be such a stick in the mud sometimes. Staying hear suits his personality," Flintpaw shrugged. He had a point, but still…

X

Falconstar stood on the edge of the slope leading towards a large clearing. Stormpaw shifted anxiously waiting for the signal to go. Beside him, Redpaw's whiskers quivered in anticipation, his eyes already fixed on a group of apprentices. Falconstar swished his tail, granting RainClan his clearance.

Stormpaw picked his way into the clearing behind Redpaw and Poppypaw. He hesitantly followed them to the group of apprentices in the center.

"Hey! It's Redpaw and Poppypaw! And...Stormpaw, right?" a black tom called. He smelled of MarshClan. "How's everything going in RainClan?" Stormpaw saw Poppypaw visibly stiffen.

"Everything's going fine, Ravenpaw," Redpaw answered just as stiffly. The tom, Ravenpaw let out a purr of amusement.

"If you don't want to say, you don't have to. Nobody's going to force you."

Stormpaw opened his mouth to protest, but never got to speak as Falconstar called for the assembled cats' attention.

"It's about to start!" Stormpaw looked around curiously to find Flintpaw. He was sitting with a group of young warriors, mostly from LakeClan. The leader of ShadeClan, Silverstar, went first.

"LakeClan is doing well, although, we have noticed the scent of MarshClan close to our borders," she noted. She cast a glance at the leader of the offending Clan. The white tom dipped his head in apology.

"I apologize, Silverstar. My warriors have grown careless, especially the apprentices. I will make sure that they keep alert." Silverstar gave the other leader a curt nod and stepped back. The white tom stepped forward. Somewhere in the mass of cats, a small voice squealed.

"It's Snowstar!" A ripple of laughter filled the clearing. The voice came from a young MarshClan apprentice. It was obviously his first time at a Gathering.

"Yes, hello Larkpaw. Lake Clan is doing fine. We recently chased a badger from our territory. Scorchclaw was injured, but he is expected to make a full recovery," he added as an afterthought. "We also welcome Juniperleaf's new kits. They shall be known as Reedkit, Thrushkit and Cloverkit." Snowstar took a step back, allowing Falconstar to speak. Stormpaw could have sworn he saw a dark look pass between them.\

"Our medicine cat, Honeyflower, has recently taken on a new apprentice. We welcome Skypaw as her apprentice and hope StarClan lights her path." Meows of approval floated from the crowd, causing the young apprentice to recoil in embarrassment.

"We have also found traces of rogues on our territory." A hush fell over the cats. "They have not returned, but we have reason to believe that they will eventually visit other territories. It is believed that they come directly from the Twoleg place." Falconstar stepped back.

"Thank you, Falconstar. We'll be sure to keep a look out," Silverstar mewed greatly. "Fernstar?"

The gray she-cat had nothing much to say: prey was plentiful, and they had recently named an apprentice into a warrior. Fernstar seemed nervous as she shared the news. Stormpaw could help but to wonder if she was telling everything.

She stepped back to speak with the other leaders. The cats around him suddenly began moving, back into groups, this time by Clan.

Flintpaw padded over, his tail dragging in the sand. "This is upsetting."

"What is," Stormpaw asked curiously.

"Grasspelt, Ebonynose and Streamfur are all warriors, and I'm stuck as an apprentice."

"Well...they are older than us…"

"But still. This is depressing," Flintpaw sighed dramatically.

Goldenheart took a place besides him. "Don't worry, Flintpaw. I'm sure if you work hard enough, you'll become a warrior soon." She placed her tail on his shoulder, which he hastily pulled away from.

"Yeah, and rabbits will fly," Stormpaw snorted.

"RainClan, it's time to go." Falconstar called, already halfway to the edge of the clearing.


End file.
